This thought came to me as I…well…scrubbed yet another toilet.
I do not like scrubbing toilets. But my parents raised me right…I know how to clean. And I know that if I put it off now it just makes more work for me or someone else later (or in case of my own children, may never get done). When I realized to my shock that no one else was going to teach my children to scrub toilets, they were all shown how and their chores reflect it. But I still have to check up after, correct and guide, and remind…remind…remind. And despite this, between home and work, I somehow still find myself on toilet-scrubbing duty.
I think part of it is I find I revert back to my indignation when me and my roommate in college and our suite mates shared a bathroom…and they clearly had not been raised by my parents and did NOT know how to scrub a toilet. So it was either be on cleaning duty or go to the community bathroom down the hall. Ode to humanity, share the toilet scrub please!
So how does this reflex back to Jesus cleaning the toilet? Have you ever heard of a footwashing that is considered the “ordinance of humility” in conjunction with a communion service in a church? This is symbolic of the Last Supper Jesus took with his disciples before He was crucified, during the Jewish festival of Passover. Churches will perform a service of communion where unleavened bread and grape juice/wine is taken by believers in representation of Jesus giving his body and blood for our sins. In my church all my life we also preceded this “taking of the sacraments” with a ceremony of footwashing as Jesus did for his disciples so long ago, an “ordinance of humility”.
I have washed many feet. And while it can be a very special thing…in the 21st century the ceremony is much less humiliating than it was in the first century. Most of us bathe regularly, there may be a little foot odor and sock lint but rarely is this needed to actually clean our feet. It’s simply going through the motions. In the first century, where individuals rarely bathed, usually walked on dusty roads with animal and human waste mixed in, wore sandals or were barefoot and likely had frequent cuts and ragged nails…washing of feet would have been downright filthy. Like…like…like a frequently-used toilet that hadn’t been cleaned for months.
What I’m saying is that Jesus would have walked into a filthy room with roommates bickering back and forth, arguing who would clean a disgusting toilet…and he would have knelt down and scrubbed it. How…humiliating.
Now, when Jesus knelt to wash his follower’s filthy feet, many were shocked and disgusted, some wanted to refuse. Understand that they were watching their TEACHER who they fully believed to be the Messiah, wash their, the students,’ feet, some of whom had previously been foul-mouthed fishermen and zealots. Any one of them could have/should have thought to do this before their TEACHER. But, just before, they had actually all been arguing who was going to be greatest in the Kingdom of Jesus (they had not quite grasped Christ’s purpose on this earth, a purpose which would shock and devastate them until they began to remember all Jesus had said…and then seeing him gloriously risen again). They just couldn’t be bothered and couldn’t have allowed themselves to be humiliated before anyone else. It took time and they were busy making sure they individually looked better than someone else, sounded smarter than someone else, sat closer to Jesus than someone else. It was simply someone else’s job.
His message was very clear. If our Savior could perform an “ordinance of humiliation”, how much more should we be willing to do the same? None is greater than their master. Now, this is one of the biggest points. My church says “wash feet” and that is not humiliating at all for me. Scrubbing toilets? Ok yes. So the question to you is, what is your “washing feet” or “scrubbing toilet”? What is Jesus calling you to step outside of your comfort level for, to humble yourself to, to show that you would be willing to take on the job of a servant as your Savior did? I cannot fill in that blank for you, but I challenge you to reach out to Jesus and see how He wants to change you to be more like Him.
I am certainly able and capable to scrub the toilets that are before me, and to do it well. Because Jesus would have.
